


Strange Behavior

by Kooriicolada (WHM_Koorii)



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Angst, Drabble, Gen, Humor, Prompt Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-01
Updated: 2013-10-01
Packaged: 2017-12-28 04:25:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 470
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/987623
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WHM_Koorii/pseuds/Kooriicolada
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zack was prone to weird behavior, but this was the weirdest Cloud had ever seen before or after the mako.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Strange Behavior

**Author's Note:**

> Drabble response to a prompt by LJ user nataeiy1: "Cloud wakes up briefly from his mako-poison coma to see Zack doing something really, really weird."
> 
> I...suspect they wanted something humorous, but this is what came out.

There were times when the green tinge that endlessly colored Cloud's world would part and he'd find himself blinking at sunlight through leaves, or a wide blue sky. These times were intermittent at best, and most of the time the memory of them would fade just as surely as the holes where he thought things ought to be would crop up.

When he was aware he often didn't know who he was, or where he was. The only constant in anything was Zack. Zack was always there. It didn't matter if he was just on the edge of consciousness and could only perceive the murmur of that familiar voice, or if he was aware enough to catch glimpses of the world beyond his mind.

The green would always come back and swamp him, and that was the way it was. That's what his life had narrowed down to since that fateful day in the--

He couldn't remember, it had escaped. Maybe he'd figure it out later.

Maybe his whole life was green, but then his eyes opened and he could see Zack. Zack was color, pale and black, and bright blue when he was up close. Zack made sounds, and Cloud tried to respond, but he couldn't. He never could.

Sometimes when he could see Zack was just sitting beside him, face serious and pensive. Sometimes...well, Zack was doing weird things like balancing his sword on his head and asking if, " _Isn't this good Cloud? Maybe I can be a street performer when we get back to Midgar._ " 

Another time he'd opened his eyes and the sky had been distant and blue, and the ground hot and grainy. His lips felt wet and tasted of nothing. His head had lolled to the side and he'd caught sight of Zack and a number of Cactuars dancing together.

He still wasn't sure if that was a mako dream or a real memory.

All Cloud knew was that Zack was doing something weird again, really, really weird. His head lolled on a too weak neck as Zack settled him on the ground. He could feel rock pressing into his back as he looked up at him, tried to say his name. Zack's expression was strained, his skin strangely ashen, but he smiled at Cloud's garbled noise anyway.

His hand rested on his head for a moment, and Cloud thought he was speaking, but it was all garbled and distant and he couldn't really make it out right then. Zack turned away, walked away, and Cloud stared after his back. 

He lifted his hand and reached after him. Where was he going? Why was he acting so strange?

Why, when sound rushed back into him, could he only hear the rattle of gunfire and battle where before it had always been Zack's voice?


End file.
